Refiner’s Fire . . .

Self confession is always dangerous unless it teaches someone else how to live. I was telling my own story with failure in Sunday’s message. Who of us started as a perfect Christian? Not me! In fact, on my best days, I hoped, to whomever it mattered, they were watching then and not on my worst days.

No such luck. God saw when I rose up and when I laid down. He knew my ways from afar. Sometimes I think He’s still shaking His head, wondering if I will ever realize I tell my own story when I preach. Last week, I made some comment about sitting back in church while others do all the work and hoping some award will come my way for doing nothing. When I said, “Don’t worry”, I told more of myself than I intended. I wanted the awards but I didn’t want to serve or work hard for them. I wanted recognition but it wasn’t earned.

Thank God He was willing to work through others with me. Now and then He got a message through to me directly. In wrestling, I was not always a failure. In being a Christian, I have not always underachieved. Had not the loveof God been greater than my failure, I would have given upon my Christian faith a long time ago.

That’s the point here. Who IS worthy to give instruction to the faithful about how we should live? Who IS worthy to tell of the perfect plan of God’s salvation? Who IS perfect in the eyes of God or themselves when they are honest? No one that I know including me.

Yet God embraces us for ministry. He desires our pursuit of righteousness. He can patiently draw us unto Him. We aren’t what we were, nor what we will be, and we certainly have assurance that God has not let us go. When I know that God and others believe in me, I can pick up and serve again even through my failures.

In truth, that is what salvation is, saved from self destruction. It is what atonement is, putting one back together when they have come apart. It is what forgiveness is, when God receives us back into His service through our failures. Who can understand this? All I know is, I embrace Him back, for He knows me better than I know myself. Thank God for His love.

Dr. Stanley Spence